Rickshaw Nomination Generates Outrage; Vendys Respond
Well, considering all the negative comments the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck has gotten from Midtown Lunchers since opening last year I can’t say I’m completely surprised by the reaction to their Vendy Award nomination. While some might be upset because Rickshaw is an offshoot of a restaurant, or not really the type of vendor that represents the true spirit of the awards- most are focusing on the fact that they just don’t like the dumplings. There have been cries of foul play, and just general disbelief in the comments, and one guy even asked on Twitter if he could return his ticket for a full refund. Serious Eats grand poo-bah Ed Levine, a former Vendy judge himself, posted a comment to SENY displaying a similar disbelief.
What do I think?
Well, I’m a judge this year so I think its only fair if I remain completely impartial (but feel free to read everything I’ve written about street vendors and the Vendy Awards for the past 3+ years, and I’m sure you could piece together an opinion.) But I will say this… the Vendys are run by the Street Vendor Project, a non profit organization that advocates very hard for street vendors here in New York City. Agree or disagree with the outcome, the Rickshaw Truck has its share of fans (and twitter followers) and the nominations were open to the public. You can be upset about the nominees, or even the eventual winner (lord knows I have expressed similar outrage in the past), but calling the whole event a sham is unfair- and devalues the incredibly hard work that the SVP does to advocate on behalf of some of our favorite vendors. For all my talk of the “Oscars of the street vendor world”, the Vendy Awards is much more about supporting their efforts, than about crowning a true “best vendor in the city”.
A volunteer from the Vendys posted this semi-official response in the comments:
“hi everyone- we’re sorry some of you are upset/confused about the rickshaw truck being selected as a finalist for the vendys…. the rickshaw truck was actually one of the most nominated carts/trucks on the streets, so while you may not believe it’s one of the best out there, MANY people in the city apparently love it. you’re all passionate about food – it’s up to you guys to nominate your favorites and to encourage your friends to do the same.
the vendys are going to be great this year, out at the queens museum – hopefully you’ll all still come out and support street food in the city.”
Don’t agree with the Rickshaw Truck being nominated? More reason to buy tickets and attend the event to vote for one of the other four vendors! After all, I’ve always felt the People’s Choice Vendy was far more prestigious than the one that gets awarded by the official judges.
Related:
2009 Vendy Award Finalists Announced
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:15 pm, August 17th, 2009 under Street Vendor Issues, Vendy Awards.
28 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
28 Comments
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I’m a new poster, but it’s pretty easy to explain the appeal of the Rickshaw Cart.
1. The cart appears “clean.” The food may not be any cleaner than any other cart, but there is a large number of people who will always be skeptical of carts because of perceived cleanliness issues. Rickshaw has an advantage there.
2. It’s an offshoot of a restaurant. Rickshaw’s restaurants have been popular enough for several years ago. If you want to look at the popularity of the truck, look to the restaurant. The restaurant provides decent dumplings with perceived high quality ingredients and is backed by a famous chef. In New York, those go a long way; value, while important to cart eaters and the Midtown Lunch ethos, is just one of the critera.
3. The cart travels to a lot of different locations and can build fans across the city.
So while the cart doesn’t score on value and maybe not taste, people rate it high on cleanliness and quality.
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Alcibiades, we frequent carts and cleanliness and quality rank below cost and taste for most of us ML’s.
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CheeeeEEEEse
– That may be correct for most readers of ML, and it’s the same for me as well. The point is it may not be correct for New York customers at large.
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The fact that a former judge is now a finalist is most certainly questionable.
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It doesn’t seem unreasonable that Rickshaw’s a nominee if they take into account audience votes. I don’t think it’s too hard to round up your friends and family (not saying they did, but it’s not that hard). Besides, how many regular (non-affiliated) people took the time to vote?
I remember winning Best Dressed Band or something in some audience vote-in back in college. I don’t think regular people cared enough to take the time to vote. So it was probably just me and my mom.
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@Alcibiades, I agree with you. (Not surprising since you repeated the same points I already made. Try reading comments before posting.)
@masto, if you are over 30 years old, and when your mom cooks for you, she insists on making lima beans, which she knows you hate, and then scolds you like child for not eating what’s good for you, then yeah, that’s kind of an asshole thing to do. Not that you should fight with your mom over it, but just saying. (And yes, this discussion has absolutely nothing to do with Rickshaw or the Vendys or anything else.)
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Anita Lo is a judge one year and finalist the next – come on Zach I definitely smell something putrid and rotten ..
If RD wins then I will eat as many Walgreen’s sammies as ML readers want to buy for me :P
Whats wrong with homophones? Are you homophonebic?